The Rain
by Azurevi
Summary: Bride of the Water God AU. Soah watches the rain and receives an unexpected visitor. Just a thought I had after reading the 4th BotWG, it's such a beautiful story that I wanted to write something for it, even if it's just a one-shot.


It was raining again. It seemed to be raining more and more often as Soah grew older. She suspected that this was just her imagination but was afraid to look up the statistics of rain fall, just in case. The rain made her happy anyway so she accepted it. It seemed so beautifully tragic and she wanted to both embrace it and cry.

"A pretty thought." She murmured, raising her hot tea to her lips.

It was a slow day at her book store "The Water Lily", and the only customers had been trying to escape the rain.

"Soah!" The door burst open unexpectedly and Soah barely managed to stabilize her tea before it destroyed her dress. "Where are you?" Her friend Dong-Young looked around, not noticing the girl curled in the window seat.

"Here you fool." She set her cup down, preparing for the inevitable.

"There's my girl!" He swept her off her feet into a hug, either not noticing or not caring that she was limp as an annoyed noodle. The rain came down harder. "Did you miss me?"

"Not really." Soah curled up in her seat again, reclaiming her cup of tea.

Dong-Young drooped at her words. "How cruel!"

Soah shrugged, watching her childhood friend. "What brings you here in the rain?"

"I came here to see you!"

"Obviously, but to what purpose?"

"I thought you could close the shop early and come to dinner with me." He gave her wide-eyes. "Please?"

"You know I won't." She took a sip of her tea and watched the rain.

"Why not? How many customers have you had today?"

"Five." She rounded up the number and included the people who'd stumbled in just to get out of the weather.

"Liar."

"It will be five if I stay open until closing time." She stuck her tongue out at her friend. "Ask someone else."

She watched his reflection as his head dipped briefly in defeat. It wasn't that she didn't like Dong-Young—as a friend—she just didn't like closing the shop early. It was her dream to own a book store; it had been since she was a child. She didn't think she'd have it for much longer as her father was the co-owner and he gambled away whatever small profit she made from the shop.

For a brief while, it had felt like home and she was happy in it. She just wanted to savor the feeling while it lasted.

"This weekend…" Dong-Young trailed off, hoping Soah would fill in the blanks for him.

She sighed. He'd asked her the week before to pretend that they were engaged for when his parents came to visit. She didn't much like the idea of being a phony bride, or phony fiancée for that matter, but she did owe him for all he'd done for her.

"Yes. I'll do it."

"What? Really!" He jumped up and she remembered to set down her tea cup once again before he grabbed her hands. "Thank you Soah!"

"It's not a problem." She raised an eyebrow at his exuberance. "Now go bother someone else."

He nodded, still smiling, and swept his umbrella from where he'd left it on the entrance mat. He paused in the entry way to the store and turned back, but Soah was already staring at the rain again.

_Maybe one day you will agree to be my fiancée._ He thought sadly. _But for now, how can I compete with the rain?_ He left and didn't spare a side-ways glance at the man who passed him on the street, dry in the downpour without an umbrella.

_I wish I were the rain_. Soah thought idly, fingertips passing over the cold pane of glass. _Then I could comfort people without judgment._

The bell on her shop door didn't sound but she looked up when she felt someone watching her. A man stood in front of her, watching silently as she watched the rain.

"Ah!" She started, grateful that she'd finished her tea and so didn't have anything to splash on herself. "I apologize! I must have lost track of time, what can I help you with?"

"Do you lose time often?" He asked, his voice a pleasant and deep. "Staring into the rain?"

"I suppose I do." She stood and straightened her long flowing dress. "I like the rain."

"Why?"

_What an odd question._ She flushed and looked away from his gaze, staring back out the window. "For the same reason everyone likes the rain."

"I wasn't asking about everyone. I was asking about you. Why. Do. You. Like. The. Rain?" He enunciated each word clearly as if to make sure she didn't misunderstand him again.

"I…" Soah met the strange man's eyes and found them piercing and old, ancient in his young face. "It makes me feel protected." She whispered, telling the truth despite herself.

"What? I didn't quite catch that?" A smile tugged on the corner of his lips.

"I said it makes me feel protected! Safe!" She glared at him defiantly.

"What if it's just the water god's tears?" He asked, this time wandering away from her, browsing through her nearest display shelves.

"It's not." Soah said with authority. "This is the water god showing us he loves us."

"Oh?" The man looked at her again.

The look sent a thrill through Soah and she shivered as if a sheet of rain and fallen straight through the window panes at her back.

"What if he just loves you?" He asked casually, not looking at her this time.

She frowned. "Then I suppose it would only rain on me. Which it's not."

She thought she heard him mutter something like _"Precision raining, what will she think of next?"_

"What was that?" Soah asked.

"Nothing." He smiled and while it didn't soften his face at all it made her heart race unexpectedly.

_What's the matter with me? Falling for an obnoxious stranger?_ She frowned, for some reason, calling the man a stranger felt odd to her.

"Have we met before?" She asked suddenly, following to where he was browsing her mythology section.

"Hmm…" He made a non-committal sound but somehow Soah felt that he approved of her question.

"It's just… you seem very familiar to me." She frowned in concentration, sure that she would know if she'd met someone as mysterious and attractive as her customer.

"Are you flirting with me?" He asked, pulling a book while giving her a sideways glance.

She gasped and stumbled back, cheeks flaming. "N-No! I was just-!"

He laughed at her reaction and she wanted to throw a book at him.

_He's provoking you on purpose! Don't fall for it again!_ She ordered herself sternly.

"So you love the rain." He smiled faintly. "How fortunate. Do you love the water god as well?"

"What is your obsession with the water god?" Soah sighed, running a hand through her long black hair. "Who are you anyway?"

"Let's just say he's a close friend, and you can call me Mui." He offered his hand to shake.

"It's nice to meet you." Soah murmured automatically, sliding her hand into his.

"Officially." Mui corrected her and smiled again, flipping her hand and raising it to kiss her palm. "And the pleasure is all mine."

Soah blushed but couldn't bring herself to pull her hand away. Somehow she knew that her life was going to change. The glint in Mui's eyes solidified that belief as they stood in her shop and in his rain.


End file.
